Dracula By: Bram Stoker

Dracula
By: Bram Stoker
Narrated by: John Lee
Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
Release date: 12-23-08
Publisher: Tantor Audio

Time to revisit a classic. I think I could read/listen to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” 2 or 3 times a year. While Dracula is not the first vampire story, that honor goes to “The Vampyre” by John Polidori, it is definitely the one that set the standard. Then when those stupid sparkly vampires came along those became the ones you compared to when deciding the worst vampire story. Anyway, everything from the way the story is told to the language used makes this story one that will never die, yes it will remain undead.

Told through letters, journal entries and diary jottings, much like the latest trend in horror films. Dracula is the 19^th century’s version of found footage. This creates an atmosphere while reading/listening to that makes it hard to put this book down. In this case I listened to the audiobook read by John Lee. I have to admit I was looking for the version with an all star cast including Tim Curry, but settled for this. I was not let down. John Lee delivered the story as if it still were an all star cast. He was able to convey through his vocalizations the different people involved in the telling of this story.

I’m sure most of you reading this are familiar with the original story, so I will let the publisher recap the story in the Publisher’s Summary below. One thing I wanted to cover in this review is a new concept or moment of understanding for me this time around. It struck me this time that Bram Stoker developed Jonathan Harker as a very rational person. He’s very organized, meticulous and is a lawyer. So being a rational person thrown in a completely horrifying irrational story the breakdown of his mental state seems to take place where by the end of the book he is a broken man. So it could be about a man slowly losing his mind. I don’t know why but that aspect of the story stuck out for me this time.

Next time you read “Dracula,” keep that in mind. If you have never read this book, do yourself a favor and get a classic into your system.

Publisher’s Summary

First published in 1897, Dracula by Bram Stoker has become the inspiration for countless film and stage adaptations. Indeed, the name “Dracula” has been synonymous with the undead for at least a century, and the original novel still has the power to chill.

Come then to Castle Dracula, hidden in the forbidding peaks of the Carpathian Mountains, where an undying creature of evil casts his sights on unsuspecting England. Voyage on the doomed ship Demeter as it carries a monster out of ancient superstition in search of new life and new blood. Tremble as first one woman, then another succumbs to the unholy thirst of the nosferatu, and as a small band of men and women, horrified by the supernatural forces arrayed against them, risk their lives and their very souls to oppose the evil known only as…Dracula.

(P)2008 Tantor